Gunmen seize Fiji parliament

Published: Saturday, May 20, 2000

SUVA, Fiji {AP} Fires lit by rioters smoldered in the capital of this South Pacific paradise Saturday as the military surrounded the parliament building where insurgents were holding government leaders hostage.

Police and military leaders said early Saturday that they were not in negotiations with the seven masked gunmen who stormed parliament a day earlier, firing from AK-47 rifles before seizing Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, Cabinet ministers and lawmakers. No one was reported injured.

Chaudhry is Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister. His year-old administration is the first to be dominated by Indo-Fijians, a fact that has angered some indigenous people in this island group located two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand.

George Speight, a Suva businessman, said he had seized power on behalf of all ethnic Fijians. He appointed an opposition lawmaker as interim prime minister in Chaudhry's place, suspended the constitution and declared himself president.

The raid coincided with a march through Suva of supporters of the nationalist Taukei Movement, which erupted into hours of rioting when news of the hostage taking broke. Markets in downtown Suva were torched, store windows shattered and shops looted.

President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara declared a state of emergency, giving himself the power to command the military. He imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew and appealed to the hostage takers to release the lawmakers.

Police said 200 rioters were arrested. Peace had returned to Suva's streets before daybreak Saturday, although some looting was reported.

"It is only Indian shops that have been damaged," said Simeli Koroi, a security guard. "It's an Indian government so Indian stores got destroyed."

At parliament, soldiers and police ringed the grounds, preventing foreign media from entering.

Former Col. Sitiveni Rabuka, acting as Ratu Mara's envoy, twice met with the rebel group late Friday but made no progress. Rabuka led two coups in Fiji in the 1980s, but is now backing the government.

Local media reported that Speight claimed all ethnic Fijian parties supported his move and said he had the backing of the Fijian military.

But Jahir Kahn, assistant commissioner for the police-military operation guarding the streets, said the rebels had no support among the military.

"You can say it's a coup or you can say it's a situation," Kahn said. "But right now as far as we're concerned (Mara) is still our president. He's declared a state of emergency and we are working directly for him."

Chaudhry's election came under a revamped constitution which largely removed clauses that discriminated against Indian migrants, originally brought to Fiji as laborers on sugar plantations.

Sun-drenched Fiji is one of the most developed of the Pacific island economies, heavily reliant on tourism and sugar exports. The former British colony is considered an easygoing nation but tension has been building for months between minority ethnic Indians, who make up about 44 percent of the 813,000 people, and the majority Fijians, who account for 51 percent.

Fiji nationalists are angry at attempts by Chaudhry to persuade Fijian landowners to renew expiring leases on farm land held by thousands of ethnic Indian tenants.

In a nationally broadcast radio address, Ratu Mara appealed for calm.

"In these difficult times and on these occasions, a lot of courage is demanded of us all," said Ratu Mara, whose daughter, Adi Koila Mara, was among ministers being held.

The United States, Australia and New Zealand called for the release of the hostages.

"We are pleased that this attempted coup is not getting the support, at this stage, of the armed forces or police," said Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. "If this attempted coup were to succeed, it would be disaster for Fiji both economically and politically."